Legendary Bay Area trainer Jerry Hollendorfer was banned Saturday from Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields hours after he lost the fourth thoroughbred of the season at the famed Southern California racetrack.

The ban was initiated by track owners, the Stronach Group, as the racing industry faces increasing pressure to dramatically change the sport in the wake of news of scores of horses dying during races and training.

Hollendorfer’s American Currency, a 4-year-old gelding, was injured while exercising on the training track in Arcadia on Saturday, according to multiple media reports that cited a California Horse Racing Board official. It was the 30th horse to die at Santa Anita this season during training or racing. Anti-racing activists who have been tracking horse fatalities say 36 horses in all have died at the meeting that began in late December.

In 2011, Hollendorfer was elected to the National Museum of Horse Racing and Hall of Fame. He has more than 7,600 victories, which is third all time. The Point Richmond resident also trained Battle of Midway, Psychedelicat and Kochees, who died during the Santa Anita season.

In this file photo taken on May 26, horses race at the Santa Anita Park as controversy continues over the high number of horse deaths at the track in Arcadia. (Mark Ralston /AFP/Getty Images)

Hollendorfer also lost two horses during the fall-winter meet at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“We regret that Mr. Hollendorfer’s record in recent months at both Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields has become increasingly challenging and does not match the level of safety and accountability we demand,” the Stronach Group said in a statement issued to media outlets. “Effective immediately, Mr. Hollendorfer is no longer welcome to stable, race or train his horses at any of our facilities.”

Hollendorfer, 73, could not be reached for comment. He told the Daily Racing Form on Saturday that he is trying to work out a plan.

“The only thing I have to say is every time anyone loses a horse the whole backstretch loses,” Hollendorfer told the Racing Form. “I’m training over 100 horses right now. Santa Anita didn’t want me to stay on the grounds. My opinion was that was a premature thing to do. I thought it was extreme. Now I have to step away for a while.”

The sanction upset thoroughbred owner Nadine Anderson, who worked for Hollendorfer when she galloped horses in the Bay Area for 15 years.

“There’s no reason why they should take it out on a trainer whose livelihood relies on the horses,” she said from her ranch in Riverside County. “It is a political move to make it look like they are doing something.”

Heather Wilson, the West Coast coordinator for Horseracingwrongs, an anti-racing website, was not surprised to learn about Hollendorfer’s ban.

“They are making Hollendorfer the sacrificial lamb,” she said. “It’s the not trainer, it’s the industry. He’s not the only one. They’re all dirty. They are desperate. It’s the Lasix (a drug), it’s the whips, it’s the rain, now it’s Hollendorfer. They’re running out of excuses.”

April Montgomery, another Los Angeles-based animal rights activist protesting the racing industry, said officials waited too long to ban the trainer.

“This is damage control for them,” she said Saturday. “This isn’t about a reprimand. Why didn’t they ban him the first time, the second time, the third time?”

The Santa Anita season ends Sunday and animal rights activists said they have organized a protest that they expect will attract about 50 people after news of the latest horse death.

Hollendorfer won training titles at every major Bay Area meeting from 1986-2008, including 37 consecutive crowns at the former Bay Meadows Racetrack and 32 in a row at Golden Gate.

He began as a hot walker and groom almost a half-century ago at Bay Meadows in San Mateo.

David DeBolt is a reporter for the Bay Area News Group who covers Oakland. DeBolt grew up in the Bay Area and has worked for daily newspapers in Palo Alto, Fairfield and Walnut Creek. He joined the organization in 2012.